


Collateral Damage

by ForestFox



Series: The future in your words. [4]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: AU, Alpha!Bunny, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Gen, Omega Verse, Omega!Jack, court intrigue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 08:00:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2302397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForestFox/pseuds/ForestFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack finally gets to see the good in the pookan people, if only because he is finally shown the downside of his own kind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Collateral Damage

Jack sat by idly as the Pookas made a grand celebration of what he considered nothing special. He supposed to them this Lunar Battery was a godsend, a source of clean energy for a nation that prided itself on damaging the planet as little as possible. They frowned on lumber mills, cattle grazing, and polluting the water. It was by far a ‘cleaner’ kingdom than Aurum.

He eyed the spread along the table in mild fascination. He didn’t realize there were this many possible combinations of meat and fishless food. Edible green as far down on the long table as Jack could see without moving. And only a hundred feet away the Lunar Battery on a pedestal like some sort of prize. There for its first official night to gather energy for use the following day. 

He didn’t mind his placement at the lower court table, farther away from the battery than the royals table. He was actually quite honored to be offered a table with the lords and ladies of the lower courts. He had expected to eat with the servants the way people spoke about him. But it seemed even Aster could be honorable when it came to agreements. Doing only what he needed to, but also not insulting Jack anymore than need be. And when he couldn’t help himself, it was only comments about his bed manners, as though Aster had never had a concubine before. He was a royal, they were unfaithful by nature. 

In the wake of the setting sun he could see conversation and interest drifting from idle chatter to the battery. He could see Pookan kits that weren’t yet old enough for stations or titles darting in and out from under the clothed tables to peek at the marvel. They were quite adorable in their shy fascination. He wondered what his children might look like. Would they be human or would they be monstrous half breeds? He didn’t care either way so long as they fit in his arms. 

He drank from his goblet of wine, poking at his tomatoes amused at how they rolled in along the lettuce leaves. He almost could enjoy his stay in Callistephus when he was treated like this, merely as a person without station or agenda. In the middle of a crowd that behaved like a family and not vicious monsters determined to steal power. 

And the children, oh the children were exactly what he wanted around him. He could feel tiny furry bodies pressing against his toes, could hear the giggling and whispering as they inspected his strange feet. He ignored them, letting them believe themselves masters of stealth. Maybe he would ask Aster to visit some children? Surely that wasn’t a terrible request, unless he thought he was a pedophile. 

The King was walking to the battery now. Glancing up Jack saw the sky purple with the promise of moonlight, the sun only an orange hint on the horizon. Aster was with the King holding the papers that would tell them how to turn it on. He kept his amusement inside at the sight of them. If they had just asked him they could avoid the foolishness of them looking for the matching labels. Really it was a surprisingly casual affair for a royal event. 

He eyed the other tables all mesmerized by the display. Five tables, it impressed Jack how small the courts of Callistephus were. That all their high court nobles and lower court nobles could all fit into five tables. As he tried to count he realized there were more children than nobles! He had heard of the odd structures, but only in passing as people didn’t seem to know that much or care that much of the inner workings of a rival court. It must have been hard enough to keep up with the game of the courts and another court’s workings. Fair enough, perhaps he could learn some things if he needed to barter for his way in life later. But he doubted he would need to. 

The battery whirled to life with an odd clank. Jack frowned, focusing all his attention on the battery as the crowd began to clap in excitement. The king was addressing the group, rambling about something that didn’t matter. It was noise to him as he tried vainly to listen to the machine. That wasn’t right! 

“Shut up!” He bellowed standing up. He could hear the children screaming as they ran away from his sudden movement. The King’s head whipped in his direction and Aster stared at him as though hoping to catch him on fire with his livid gaze. 

“Just- be silent.” He sputtered, glad that people were actually listening to him for a moment. But he supposed he had more stunned them. He was far below their station demanding something of their king. 

There it was. The soft hum of the battery was punctuated by a rhythmic clunk. He wracked his mind as he tried to remember what that meant. Even as he thought he could hear the clunking increase. It was speeding up! “No no no.” He shouted slamming his hands on the table.

“Now see here whore-” The King started, but Jack ignored him calling on his magic. He sworn to himself he would not use it unless he needed to. And while he supposed this wasn’t a serious situation just yet the battery would be lost if he didn’t act now. He felt the wind jerk to his call, lifting him off his feet and over the table in a heartbeat. The Pookan nobles who had had the misfortune of sitting next to him were knocked away in a chorus of upset protests. 

He was launched easily across the small distance. Aster grabbed his King and pulled him out of the way as Jack landed against the machine, his hands gripping the upper edge of the metal casing. He couldn’t see around it, but he knew he was running out of time. The clunking was joined by an angry whirling noise. 

“No no no,” He shouted channeling painful cold through his body. He didn’t like this part of his magic. And he hadn’t used it enough to work it as easily as the wind. Ice crawled quickly along the machine. He was close enough to the heart of the machine here, maybe he could save it. 

His arms ached and he was sure he would lose some skin if he separated from the machine right now. But contact was important. He pressed his feet against the table the battery was sitting on willing ice to spread from both ends of his body. Up from his toes and down through his numb fingers. 

“What are you doing?!” Aster growled from beside him, his paws on Jack’s side pulling on him. 

“Stop it!” Jack snarled. “The battery is useless without the core. If you want to help, turn it off! I’m trying to save it.” Aster’s paws were gone, and while it was a relief not to be stopped in his work he couldn’t see what he was doing. Only that his side of the battery was now coated in ice and he only hoped his ice was reaching the delicate core. 

The hum off the machine was gone, and though he knew the worst had been avoided he could still hear the whirling from inside. He willed his ice to spread more, pain blossoming in his head with the effort. He knew he was frozen in place now. He could feel his arms and legs coated in ice. It wouldn’t kill him but it was still uncomfortable. He pressed his forehead against the iced battery hoping to ease the pain in his head as he strained to hear. 

Slowly, the whirling stopped the core was finally at rest or at least no longer attempting to shatter itself. He didn’t even dare look up, he had made a horrible scene trying to save the battery. Surely the nobles would do worse than call him a whore now. 

“What happened….” Aster’s careful tone cut through the silence.

“The- uh…” Jack slumped feeling his energy exhausted. Aster’s warm body was against him holding him up to keep from hurting himself. “The core… it stores the energy. It’s designed to store enough energy to work the machine and expels the rest during the extraction process… an overclocked core makes a distinct sound when it’s about to shatter. This one was attempting to compensate for its lack of energy to run by processing all incoming moonlight- it’s… a complicated process.” 

“Explain better.” The King’s acid tone only helped his headache double. 

“The battery has several functions that it must maintain to run.” Jack tried to explain it as simply as he could. “You received a battery that was empty. It was trying to store enough energy to run its basic functions. It didn’t yet have enough to run all functions. The cooling system wasn’t running, the battery was overheating and would have exploded.” 

“Get the abomination down. Don’t damage the battery.” The King still sounded angry, but Jack was glad the anger no longer seemed directed at him. With Aster’s warm body still holding him up he gave up trying to stay awake. Working so much magic so quickly when he had done nearly nothing with it for a very long time was exhausting. 

The only thought he managed to hold on to before sleep overcame him was a pressing one. 

Who was trying to get him killed? 

 


End file.
